Minecraft
by Dinomatrix21
Summary: A young boy wakes up in a forest with no memory. While traveling to regain clues to his past, he makes friends, fights enemies and unveils conspiracies. But who is the mysterious figure giving him items and hints? And what is this book that updates itself?
1. Chapter 1- David: 1st Night

Minecraft

Chapter 1- David: 1st Night

It was a bright and sunny day in the forest. Birds sang in the trees, rabbits hopped around, eating the grasses and turtles lazed around by the river. Under the shade of an oak tree by the river, a boy of about fourteen years old lay half in the water with various cuts and gashes on his arms and face. His black hair was matted with leaves and dirt, his turquoise shirt torn and dirty, his purple pants in shreds and soaked with blood, and his grey shoes worn and ragged. A green backpack lay next to him, empty. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up, confused and dazed. He looked around slowly, trying to regain his bearings.

"Wh-where am I?" he said. He rubbed his face and moved his hand quickly. His entire face was full of dirty cuts that stung. He stood up and looked around. The forest was quiet, save the sounds of the animals. The sun was slowly going down. The boy looked around and saw the backpack. He walked over and rummaged around inside. The only thing inside was a piece of paper that read, "To survive, get wood, make shelter. Crafting Table". The boy was confused. He had no axe or saw, so how was he supposed to get any wood? He crumpled the note and threw it on the ground. He decided he would just follow the river. It was sure to lead to a town.

He walked for hours. The sun soon went down and the moon rose high into the sky. He was exhausted, and his body ached from the cuts and bruises all over his body. He was so tired and so angry he didn't know what he was going to do.

"Look for wood? Look for wood?! Here's some wood!" he screamed looking at a tree. He raised his foot and kicked at the tree. A sickening crunch was heard. The boy was startled believing he may have hurt himself. His leg felt fine. Then he looked at where he had kicked the tree. A large crack had appeared through the base of the tree. He continued to kick the tree, and then decided to punch it. The bark was soft, like carpet.

When the cracks connected, the one meter of wood dropped out of its place in the tree. The stump and the upper part of the tree were disconnected, the higher part floating. The piece that he had destroyed was about an inch in size. "He sat there, staring at the piece of wood, floating just above his hands. He was enraged. If he was to survive, he needed to get wood. He'd found a way to get wood, but at the size of an inch it seemed useless. "This is so, STUPID!" he shouted. He threw the piece of wood and it broke into smaller cubes. The boy walked over to the cubes. There were four tan cubes of soft, polished wooden planks. He turned back to the tree and continued mashing the rest of the upper part of the tree. Upon destroying the tree, he smashed the blocks into the ground turning them into more wooden planks.

At about midnight the boy had destroyed 3 trees, and had a total of 48 wooden planks. He understood why he needed the wood now. He realized that placing the blocks down without force enlarged them to about a meter in length. Punching them enough times returned them to their inch-sized form, for easy packing. He built his shelter about four blocks long, three high and four across. He used about 33 planks to make his shack. The noises in the thicket worried him. He saw figures as big as he was. What could they be…? He decided to close up the door, just in case. In the pitch dark he couldn't see anything. There was nothing to do now…except review what had recently happened. His name was David. He was 14 years old. That was all he could remember. That was a problem. He didn't know where he was from or how he got here. He'd have to sleep and figure out what to do tomorrow.

Well, tell me what you think. I've got more chapters but I'm not posting anymore for a while until I know people want to read it.


	2. Chapter 2-David: The Manual

Chapter 2- David: The Crafting Book

David woke up in his dark hut. He felt a lot better than he had the previous day. He punched out the door way and looked up at the sky. The sun was just rising so it must have been about 6:00 a.m. Then he noticed that something was lying on the ground in front of him. It looked like some kind of old leather journal. He picked it up and flipped through the pages. Most of them were blank but the first few had images and entries on them. The pages seemed worn and old and layers of dust and dirt were on the pages. He dusted off the first few, sat down in the doorway, and started to read.

The first entry was labeled "Wood- Is a natural source found were many plants grow. They are used in many crafting recipes and are very useful. There are four types of trees. Oak trees, which grow in forest, jungles and plains. They can sometimes grow plump red apples. Pine trees are darker and grow in swamps, taiga and tundra. Birch trees are white with black spots and grow in forest, plains and the edge of jungles. The final kinds of tree, Jungle trees, only spawn in jungles. They are extremely tall, and boast a brownish coloring. They sprout yellow-green fruits with a rounded-hourglass shape and cocoa-beans. The barks of all trees are soft and therefore can be harvested by punching. The leaves dematerialize when detached from any tree and saplings can drop from them. When pulled or smashed apart, they become smooth wooden planks and when meshed together in their crafting form, they split into four long, thin pieces and become sticks. Placing four together forms a crafting table and this allows you to create things on a larger scale such as chest that can be used to hold more items.

David looked at the images all of them including a "3 by 3 crafting area". The first showed sticks in the middle and bottom middle. Along the top were wooden planks. The image was labeled, "Wooden Pickaxe". David went back inside and began using the crafting recipes. When he came outside he had a crafting table, a wooden pick and a wooden sword. He dismantled his house and put the remaining wood, stick and book in his backpack. He strapped his sword to his belt and put his crafting table in his pocket. He continued walking along the river. For the longest time he walked in silence, hanging his pick over his shoulder. He looked up into the sky to figure out what time it was. The sun was still low rising, meaning it was about 9:00 a.m. He figured he should keep walking and try to get as far as possible. After a couple of hours he decided to do some more crafting. He placed his Crafting Table and spread out his pieces of wood. Flipping through the book, he couldn't find anything worth crafting at the time. He searched further into the book, trying to find anything that could be useful. Near the end of the pages, he saw more illustrations. These didn't seem to be crafting recipes, but figures, with captions underneath.

The images were easy to decipher. Two small plump birds, a chicken and a duck. Some larger animals, a cow, pig, deer, horse and sheep. A creature resembling a cow, but colored red with odd growths on its back was labeled "Mooshroom". Many other common creatures such as lions, tigers and ocelots were labeled under "Big Cats" and all the variants labeled under "Bears". A strange, tall creature, labeled "Enderman" was shown. It looked like an elongated, thin human, with pitch black skin and glowing purple eyes. The picture unnerved David, so he flipped to the next page. A load of other animals were spread throughout the pages, some of them marked with green circles or yellow squares, others marked with a red skull.

David flipped the page once more. The drawings here seemed to be monsters. Zombies, skeletons, spiders? That seemed odd. He flipped ahead a few pages, where each creature had a full page of description and pictures. He flipped ahead to where the "monsters" full entries started.

The entry was marked- Zombies- These are the dead bodies of miners, their souls moved on to be replaced by the "Great Demons of the Nether". The vicious nature of the demons makes the bodies target large living things, although they sometimes attack smaller creatures. Running faster than humans, surviving more than 20 block drops and being able to climb surfaces without vines or ladders, sometimes, the demons are smart enough to utilize armor and will wear it in order to survive and kill. When there are no creatures to kill, they sit idle in dark crevices and caves. Some wander around aimlessly in the dark, others lean against walls. Their demon soul occupying the bodies cannot survive in the sunlight, unless in water or in the rain. They prefer to avoid all forms of light, but will endure if they are chasing prey.

David looked at the right-page. There were a series of sketches depicting zombies. The first was a sketch of bald, green skinned humans with different mixes of armor and different clothes. Some of their heads were cracked open so that their brains were visible. Others had broken hands and spiked points of bone in their place. Their eye sockets were empty and there were numerous scratches and scrapes leaking blood. Those that did have hands had spiked fingers instead of normal ones, and they were entirely soaked with blood. A huge swarm spanning off to the horizon was attacking, the drawing shown in first person. The caption said "Zombies are attracted to loud noises and will swarm in hordes." Another showed a zombie in front of a house pounding on a door, with more moving closer. "Enough zombies can break down doors. A horde can break doors made of iron." The final picture showed a zombie in a light turquoise helmet, breastplate, leggings and boots, its flesh burning in the rising sun and its eye sockets glowing red. "Since the evil demons cannot survive in sunlight, their host bodies' burn with them, no matter what kind of armor they may wear."

The final caption made David feel better, but not by much. He looked back at the sky. It hadn't moved much, so he still had a good amount of time before night struck. He walked along the river, flipping through the pages about the creatures living, or dead, in this world.

In case you're wondering, the zombies are based of of the L4D mod, Deathcraft II. This will be implemented for some other enemies, but not all of them.


	3. Chapter 3-David: Into the Cave

Chapter 3- David: Into the Cave

As the sun was going down, the noises from the previous night became more abundant. According to the recipes, he could find coal in a cave system to use to make torches. But the creatures he'd seen in the book infested those places. He switched his pickaxe for his sword. He shouldered his backpack and set off into the world.

The river was much thinner, which meant he was getting closer inland. The sunset made the sky on the horizon a pink and orange hue. The singing of the birds had died down and the rustling in the underbrush had become even more common. He made his way into the brush behind his house. A few feet behind the hut was a small ditch. David hopped down and looked around. Straight forward was a dark hole where many different scratches, moans and hisses could be heard. In every other direction was a solid stone wall. He looked up. The wall was four blocks straight up stone and five more up was dirt. He certainly wasn't getting out that way. Looked like the only way to go was into the cave and up from there. He could still here the river, so he'd be able to follow it.

With a few more minutes of mental preparation he set off into the cave. He was constantly checking for coal and monsters, but mostly the latter. He spun around at every sound until he saw a block in the wall darker than the rest. He walked over closer and saw that it was covered in coal dust. He wiped it away and saw raw specks of coal in the stone block. He took out the book and flipped through the pages. "Coal disperses as soon as it is broken with a pick. The weak structure of stone around the mineral break and disperse, leaving only the coal product." He put the book away and took out his pick. He pulled back and swung at the coal. A crack, like when he struck wood appeared. He continued to pick away at the stone until the center, the raw coal, was all that remained. He picked it up and broke it into four pieces. He did the same to a stick and connected them. He tossed three torches into his backpack. He slid the coal edge of the stick across the floor and it ignited, lighting up the cavern. A couple of large, mangy, blood covered rats were only a couple of blocks away from David. He stood there in shock at how big they were. They sat there dazed, their pale eyes shimmering in the light. Without warning, one of the rats hissed and jumped at David. He shook himself out of his shock and swiped the torch at the rat. The monster hit the ground and took off running, screeching and squeaking, fire engulfing its mangy body.

The other rat looked menacingly at David then off in the direction of its burning companion. It hissed at him, shook its mangy fur and ran off. David plunged a torch in to the ground. He turned back to the hole he had faced. Now that it was lit, he could see that it was filled with coal. He mined some stone out of the way so he could stand in the hole. He mined 23 pieces of coal from the cave and used his last two wooden planks to make more sticks for torches. He had a total of 20 torches and 19 coal pieces left over. He tossed the coal in his backpack along with 19 torches. He lit another and walked back out of the hole he had made.

There didn't seem to be anymore monsters. Using the torch, he could see a trail of coal powder from the rats. Going deeper into the cave was the only thing to do. He took his torch out of the ground and blew it out. The fire went out almost instantly and the coal was instantly cold. He threw it into his backpack and continued on. He walked down the pathway, looking around. The noises were growing louder, but so was the river. He dropped down a four-block ledge and looked around. A large circular room lay before him with two exits, one leading up and one leading down. There were more minerals around him all in the walls. David absentmindedly flipped through the book. He remembered that there were no more crafting recipes after wooden tools. Yet he felt compelled to turn the page. He slowly flipped to the next page and saw that more crafting recipes were in the book. It showed stone tools, a furnace, clay and bricks, stone bricks, and bookshelves. The "Manual" said that the tools were sharper and more effective than wood tools, and they lasted longer. They could also be used to mine higher quality materials.

Unfortunately, he had used all his sticks on torches. He dug out 10 more pieces of stone, which turned into the cracked cobblestone. He threw them into his backpack for crafting later. He walked through the center ring and stood at the cross section. In the upper hole, the sound of the river could be heard. In the lower tunnel, the noises of the monsters echoed louder. David climbed up the hill of gravel and into the upper cavern. Moving through the tunnel, he could see the stones shuddering. That was odd…could stones even shudder? Nah, he was probably just tired from being underground so long. He continued on waving the torch around looking for monsters. A burned rat and a few others hissed and ran from the light.

He noticed that he was on a thin natural land bridge. He looked over the edge. A river rushed below, the water battering the large rocks. That was the sound of the river. Down on the shore, things were lying and shuffling around…oh no. David recognized these things. "Zombies." he murmured. The book said that they could climb easily and if he woke up one, all the rest would follow. He stepped slowly across the center of the bridge. He placed torches every so many steps to keep it lit so that nothing could sneak up on him. He walked slowly and the zombies took no notice of him. He had almost made it across when he heard hissing…a lot of hissing. He turned slowly and saw a horde of rats. The rats glared angrily at him. A burned rat jumped into the lead and squeaked angrily at David. The rats swarmed forward, their little clawed paws making loud pounding noises. David looked over the bridge. Zombies were getting up slowly stumbling about hitting each other lightly. David lit a torch and threw it at the swarm of rats. A few caught fire, but they quickly leapt of the bridge, swimming back towards it once they had been extinguished. David tried to walk, but the rats were swarming up behind him. He took off running. Below him, he could hear the zombies climbing up the bridge. He had almost it to the end when all of a sudden… WHAM! He hit a wall and landed on his back. He sat up and lit a torch. He had reached a dead end. A tiny hole was some fifty blocks up. He'd never be able to get up there. He put the torch out, turned around, and whipped out his sword. The rats were all gone swarming down into the river. They had swarmed towards him to get him to run and awaken the zombies.

There was no use in walking now. He darted back across the bridge. The zombies were coming up everywhere. He skidded to a halt. They were at the exit, stumbling towards him. Suddenly, one screeched and ran at him. He swung his sword and cut off an arm. The force of the blow sent the body plummeting over the bridge. David turned around and saw two more speeding towards him. He swung and chopped the head off of one. The other ducked and pounced at him. He spun to avoid the full attack, but his arm was cut. Zombies were dashing left and right and David was cutting body parts off, throwing those that pounced on him over the edge into the water. In about fifteen minutes, his wounds had reopened, or gotten worse. His pants were in shreds and the gashes on his legs, were overflowing with blood. His arms were tired from all the leaking cuts and his hands were numb. There were large welts on his head and face and one eye had swollen shut. His torso was full of bruises and bites and his shirt was torn. His sword was cracked and splintering, soaked with blood. He swung it one last time and the tip broke off in a zombie's mid-section. He threw the end into the same zombie and nailed it in the forehead. He looked around for an escape. There was only one. He turned and ran towards the edge. Just as a zombie nearly bit into his leg, he dived into the raging river below.

This was the end. He was going to die without knowing his past. He looked back up at the zombies. They had turned against each other. He saw a dark figure among them, with big, purple eyes. Then the creature disappeared in a wisp of purple smoke. Was he imagining it or was that…an Enderman. It hadn't creeped him out as much as he thought. Until the creature appeared, falling, beside him. It grasped his face in its pointed hands. It closed its eyes and put on a strenuous face. The creature glowed purple. He looked down. The water was coming up fast. David closed his eyes and braced for impact. He felt a light powder hit him. He slowly opened his eyes. They were under a tree in a meadow by a river in front of a block-sized cave entrance. David could hear the growls and cries of the zombies. He looked at the black creature that had saved him. It was leaned up against a tree, asleep. David wasn't quite sure what had happened, but he had made it out of the cave. He looked up at the sky. The sky was a beautiful pink purple. Morning.

"And now…" he thought, "sleep." He fell to his knees in the grass under the tree and passed out.

To the one called Daz- I might put your character Darren into the story, but I won't keep him to the very end. Also, this is important to know: What is his backstory and what is his race (Black, White, Latino, etc.)? Trust me, it IS important.


	4. Chapter 4- Endrax: Into the Jungle

Chapter 4- Endrax: Into the Jungle

The black creature's eyes fluttered open. He stood up and leaned against the tree and pushed his yellow miner's hat up. He stretched and yawned looking around, the sun was rising and the birds were singing. A sudden loud snorting startled him. He disappeared in a wisp of purple smoke and reappeared in the branches of the tree. He crouched down and looked around the base of the tree. Then he remembered the human he had rescued earlier in the night. He dropped down from the tree and stared at the brown skinned creature. It had a thick, dirty black substance all over its head. It had fallen over its arms hanging limp. It was covered with cuts in its skin, leaking a red substance. He moved closer and knelt down beside it and he poked the creatures face. Its eyes flashed open and it rolled to the side. In one swift motion, it swiped a stick with a piece of coal on it out of its pack, across the ground and the stick ignited. The black creature took a few steps back with its hands up. The human stood up with its torch extended. He decided to act now, before the human burned him to a crisp.

"He-lo." The human stopped.

"Wh-what did you say?" The human started walking closer. He decided not to let the human get to close to him. He disappeared back into the tree. The human was startled. He looked around, scanning the landscape for the creature that had just disappeared from in front of him.

"Hey!" the dark creature called. The human spun around, looking more startled than before.

"Are you the one who saved me?" he asked. The dark creature nodded his head. He slowly walked towards the tree. "How'd you know I was in there? What's your name?" the human asked.

"I Endrax." The black creature said. "I hear zombies in hole. I look in and see you. I think to self, why you should die?" Endrax hopped down from the tree again. "I bring you to camp. Luckily, it morning, or I may have to drag you to tree." Endrax said smiling. "Who are you?"

The human looked a little more at ease. "Um…my names David. Are you…an Enderman?" Endrax's face turned into a frown.

"I am not an Enderman. I am an Enderkin. We are similar, but different. Enderkin are more like you." he replied.

"What do you mean more like me? David asked.

"We have villages and cities like you. We farm and mine and have civilization. What you doing here? Are you…traveler?"

"Eh, kind of. I've lost my memory. I woke up some ways back down the river." He said pointing in the direction he had come. "I've been traveling for a couple of days, building make shift shelter as I followed the river. Are there any towns near here?"

Endrax slowly shook his head. "Nowhere near here. Sorry." He looked down towards the river where it went into a thick, lush, jungle. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Maybe no town, but there are humans here! In jungle, there is boy and girl in tree house! I take you! Follow me!" Endrax took off down the river.

"Hey, wait up!" David called. Endrax slowed down and turned to face David. He ran up slowly, breathing heavily.

"Can…can we not go so fast? I don't know why…but I'm really tired…"

Endrax sighed heavily. "Okay, we walk slow." They started off down the river. As they were walking down the river, David did an inventory off his items. It had turned out that as he was falling, all of his items had fallen out of his pack except for a few torches. Endrax told him that he didn't have any items, as all he needed was food. They reached the jungle in about an hour and then they ran into a problem. Upon reaching the jungle, David doubled over in pain.

"What is wrong?" he asked.

"My…stomach…agh!"

"You have eaten anything bad recently?" Endrax asked worriedly.

"I haven't eaten…anything!" David yelled. Endrax looked into the forest.

"I be right back!" he said. He turned and ran towards the jungle before disappearing in a purple wisp. He came back a few minutes later holding a few yellow hour-glass shaped fruits. "Here. Eat these. They give lot of energy." David grabbed two fruits and began taking huge bites out of them. When Dan had finished, he stood up and shouldered his pack.

"Alright, let's get moving." They continued over the dense brush and past the huge vine covered trees. Odd orange and yellow pods dotted the tops of trees, but David and Endrax couldn't reach them, and there were no branches on which Endrax could teleport to. Thrice they came upon small, clean ponds, where flowers and grass grew abundantly, free from the shade of the large trees. Goats, turtles and rabbits lay around these ponds, quietly drinking and eating the grass. Whenever they broke through the brush, the animals stared at them and quickly scattered.

David and Endrax had been walking all day and they still hadn't come across the tree house. Finally, the sun began to set and David suggested making camp. They found another spring, smaller than the last and set up their torches. There were three in total. They set them up around the pond to keep the more dangerous animals away. Since neither of them had any wood they dug up some wet dirt from the river and made a small dirt hut. They slept for a few hours until they were awoken by a strange hissing noise. David lifted his head groggily. He peaked out from the dirt hut and saw pairs of glowing red eyes staring from the shadows on the edge of their camp.

"Hey Endrax, wake up." He threw a small chunk of dirt onto the other side of the hut. Endrax felt the dirt hit his miners cap. His head shot up and he opened his eyes. David motioned for him to be quiet and pointed outside. They looked out slowly. The red eyes were still there but they were joined by six other small eyes near the first pair. Endrax clicked on his helmet and a light came on, shining directly onto the eyes. A large black creature with eight furry legs and a large furry rear stood before. On its head were the eight eyes, along with two pairs of vicious, sharp fangs. The eyes quickly disappeared into the darkness. David took out some dirt and patched up the opening in the hut. "Endrax, shine your light over here." David said. Endrax walked over and stood behind Dan shining the light directly on him. David took out an old, leather book. He flipped through the pages until he came across the sketch of the creature they had just seen. "This could be a problem…"

"Spiders are nocturnal arthropods. They are hunters that live in dark forest and caves. Occasionally, they come out into open plains and onto mountains to hunt at night. They use their powerful four back legs to jump onto prey and their sharper, front four legs to dig into its flesh. Steering their prey into walls and ditches to tire them out, they use their sharp pair of fangs to inflict bleeding wounds to kill them faster. After their prey is subdued, they tie it up with webbing and use their back most legs to place it on their back and carry it to their nest. They often times enlist the help of others of their species and hunt larger groups of prey."

"Alright then," David said closing the book. "Endrax, teleport a little ways out into the woods, break down some trees and bring the pieces back here. Hurry." Endrax nodded and disappeared into the forest. He looked back at the hut, some 20 meters away. He could see the red eyes massing in the trees. He turned around quickly and dashed deeper into the jungle.

To the one called Daz: PM me. We need to talk more about your character. Some things will work, but some will not.


	5. Chapter 5- Endrax: The Spiders

Chapter 5- David: The Spiders

After running for a few minutes, Endrax turned around. The spider's hisses were far behind him so he decided he could break down some trees now. He teleported to the top of the tree, removing leaves and stacking them on top of each other. He grabbed the first wood block and crushed it between his hands. The cube shrunk to an inch. Endrax worked his way down the tree until he had 32 tiny cubes in his arms. He teleported to the bottom of the tree, and then back to the dirt hut. He dropped the cubes and removed two of the dirt blocks to get into the hut.

David turned around at the sound of the blocks being removed.

"How did you just remove those blocks?! You have to break them…" Endrax grabbed the wood pieces and pulled them inside and then quickly placed the dirt blocks back.

"All Ender have this power. Like teleporting. Anyway, here are the wood pieces." He dumped the wood pieces on the ground in front of David.

"Alright thanks." He quickly made 2 64-stacks of wood, created a crafting table and placed in the corner. He made a single stack of four sticks and placed them in the lower middle square in the crafting table. He then took eight planks, placed four above the sticks and four above those. The pieces of wood fastened themselves into four wooden swords.

He attached two to his belt, tossed one to Endrax and held onto one for himself. "Swing these at the spiders, aim for the head." Endrax nodded and readied his sword. David knocked down the lower middle dirt block and peered out. He could here the spiders hissing, but couldn't see any. He moved back inside and broke the top block. He moved slowly outside, peering around the sides of the hut. He took a few cautions steps further outside, looking around with his sword readied. Endrax stuck his head outside and looked around nervously. He could definitely hear the spiders, but he couldn't see them…it sounded like they were…!

"Look above you!" Endrax screamed. David turned and faced towards the roof of the hut. A spider had just launched itself off of the hut and was sailing towards him, followed closely by one of its kin. David swung his sword and inflicted a deep gash in the spider's underside. It sailed over David's head and landed upside down in some bushes.

The second spider landed directly on David's back. It dug its four front legs into the flesh beneath his ribs while pressing its back legs on his lower spine. David screamed and began twisting around trying to throw the spiders off. It began biting his shoulder and blood began leaking out of him at an alarming rate. Endrax ran forward and smashed his sword into the spiders back. The spider screeched in pain and loosened its grip on David just enough for him to swing his left fist and punch it in the face. It fell off, twisting and writhing, trying to get back on its feet. Endrax took his sword and plunged it through the spiders head, shining green liquid spraying straight up. Endrax wiped his face and smirked, giving the thumbs up signal to David. David smiled and did the same.

Their victory was cut short as a trio of spiders came out from behind the brush. The smell of blood had invigorated them and they were shrieking uncontrollably, rolling their heads and stamping their many legs. Endrax and David readied there weapons, ready for a few more spiders. Then more arrived. Two dropped out of a tree, while another crawled out of a small crack in the ground. Suddenly a spider lunged forward and Endrax cut it across the face. It smashed into the ground, sparkling green spider blood leaking from the wound. Two more jumped at them. One landed in front of Endrax, then stood on its hind legs and bared its fangs at him while swinging its sharp front legs at his face. Endrax put his sword in front of him to block the spider's powerful arms, but even so, he was cut across the cheek.

One landed on top of David, but he quickly kneed it in the underside and rolled over. The spider rolled around for a second, then flipped itself upright. The spider lunged again, head butting David and sending him sprawling to the ground. David tried to get up put the spider quickly pounced on him slashing across his face. David couldn't move and the spider was drooling, its pincers clicking rapidly. It raised its head and lowered it quickly towards his neck

David closed his eyes and braced for death. He waited a few seconds then looked up, confused. The spider's eyes were wide, but cold and glossed over. He realized that the spider was no longer standing over him but had fallen on him, dead. He flipped it off of him and saw the arrow in its head. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes. "Prepare to DIE!" a voice screamed.

A young boy jumped out of the brush with a stone sword. He dashed over to where Endrax was fighting off a spider and rammed into the creature. The spider was sent sprawling into the ground. Before it could get to its feet, the boy stabbed it through the heart. The spider screeched and flailed a few times before dying. Two of the spiders backed off, while two others dashed at the boy. David got up and got ready to defend, but the boy charged forward at the monsters. He plunged the sword through the eye of one spider and tore it out the side of its head. He quickly pulled the sword up over his head and smashed it down into the second spider's.

Blood trickled from the creatures head onto the grey stone sword. The boy ripped the sword out of the head and readied it looking at the two remaining spiders. One backed up a little ways then charged at the boys. Before it got near them, an arrow pierced its head and it hit the ground twitching. David and Endrax stared in amazement.

"H-how did you do that?" David asked in amazement. The boy sheathed his bloody sword and looked at David.

"Years of practice," he replied solemnly. "And the urge to KILL! I mean, seriously! Did you see that!? I tore my sword right through its freakin' head!" The boy began mimicking the motions he had done before with his fist, a happy (and somewhat crazy) look on his face.

On a tree behind them, something began rustling in the leaves. David and Endrax readied their swords. The boy turned around.

"Oh, hey sis." He said calmly. A teenage girl dropped down from some vines. She was Caucasian, with her light blonde hair in a ponytail. She wore a yellow t-shirt, dark blue shorts and grey shoes. A simple bow was strapped to her back, along with a quiver of arrows.

"Hey Phillip." The girl replied. "Who're these guys?"

"I dunno. I just saved them from the spiders." "No no, that was me! If I hadn't shot that arrow into that spider, he would've been dead.", she said pointing to David. "By the way, what's your name?" she asked calmly. David was flustered and confused, his head spinning.

"U-um…I'm David…W-who are you guys?"

"Oh sorry," the girl replied. "My name is Josie. This is my little brother Phillip." She said pointing to the hyper little boy. "Who's your dark friend?" she said looking skeptically at Endrax.

"I am Endrax! Pleased to meet you!" he said excitedly. "Okay then. So what are you two doing out here in the forest?"

"We have been looking for you!" Endrax said. "David has no more memory! He was wondering if there was a town or such were he may look for it!"

"What he means to say is that I have amnesia. I was wondering if there was a town where I might look for any clues."

"Well there is a town a few miles away from our tree house…" the girl started, but was cut of when the hisses and moans suddenly began. " It's not safe at night. We should head back to our tree house. We can talk more there." She turned and started marching through the brush, Phillip following close behind. David and Endrax looked at each other skeptically, then jogged to catch up to the siblings.


	6. Chapter 6- Josie: The Tree House

Chapter 6- Josie: The Tree House

They arrived at the tree house just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. "Well, here we are." Josie sighed. "Home, sweet home." David and Endrax looked up. A huge platform blocked out the sun, made of tan-brown wooden planks. There was only a small opening in the bottom and ladder led from the ground into it. Phillip jumped up and rapidly began to climb. Josie climbed a short ways before looking down at the traveling companions. "Well? You coming?" Endrax took a deep breath and began climbing upward. Josie began climbing again as David followed. Josie pulled herself up into the tree house and looked around. The chest were sitting in a neat row and labeled: Food, Building Materials, Tools… The beds were sitting farthest to the back, either side of the window. The table sat in the middle of the room with two chairs on the sides. Slender, their tuxedo cat, was curled up in his bed, cleaning himself and stretching. Phillip was in the food chest, gathering things for dinner.

"Hey, could you move please?" a voice asked from behind her. She turned and saw the small Enderman staring up at her. His face was bruised and had one large cut to the left cheek, with a purple liquid flowing from it. She quickly moved aside to let him past. As soon as he was inside, his human friend stepped inside. His dark skin was covered in cuts, scrapes and gashes. His clothes were torn and dirty, his hair matted with dirt and blood. He climbed quickly into the tree house and looked around. "Nice place you got here." he said.

"Yea it's okay…" Josie responded. "We were thinking of expanding it. Putting two little storage rooms out to the side. Anyway, what are an Enderman and a human doing traveling together?" At this Endrax's eye turned from purple to red.

"I am NOT an Enderman!" he shouted. "I am an Enderkin! We are your height, we can speak and we have civilization. WE use tools, we build structures! WE ARE NOT ENDERMEN!" Everyone stared at him for a moment before his darted around the room. He pushed his mining cap down over his face and held it there. "S-sorry…" he said quietly.

"Annnyway…why are you guys traveling together?" Josie asked.

"Um, Endrax saved me from an enormous zombie hoard. I asked if there were any villages near by and he told me about you guys. So he was trying to lead me here."

"Hm. So you're trying to get to the village in the desert? We've been there once or twice. We were planning on heading there soon. You can come with us."

"I guess. What about you Endrax? Are you gonna come too?"

"Yes. You are a good companion and I would like to help you on your 'adventure'." he said cheerfully.

"Alright, looks like we're gonna…g-gonna…" David stumbled and fell against a chest. Phillip looked up from the furnace, where he had been frying some eggs and pork chops.

"You okay man?" he asked.

"I don't think so…" he murmured. Josie and Endrax supported him and took him over to the table. Josie examined his face, her hands rubbing over bruises and scabs. David looked a little shocked that she was touching his face, but she didn't care.

"Some of your wounds look a little infected. They need to get cleaned now or you'll get even worse. She went over to the supply chest and rummaged around a bit. She pulled out a small bottle with a light orange fluid in it and a few paper cloths. She walked back over to David, uncorked the bottle and poured a little of the liquid on the cloth. Before David could ask any questions, she put the cloth to his face and began to gently dab at the gashes and cuts.

David grabbed the arms of the chair and held on tightly. Josie could see his eyes wide with pain and she knew how bad the potion felt initially. She had had to use it on Phillip multiple times and every chance he got he would try to knock the bottle away. After a while, David relaxed. She could see the potion beginning its work as the cuts began to heal and close. It would take a few hours but he'd be fine.

"Alright done with your face" she said. "Now take off your shirt." David flinched and almost tipped the chair backwards.

"W-what?! Why?!"

"Have you seen your wounds?" Josie asked sarcastically. David looked down at his tattered shirt, dirty shirt and the multiple slashes and cuts. He sighed and pulled off his shirt (though now it was like a dirty pile of turquoise rags). Josie bent down and started using the potion on the holes in David's waist. David shivered with pain and clenched his hands into fist. Josie felt bad that this was required to heal him, but she didn't know any other way. After his torso was cleaned she applied some sterilizer to the large cut on his arm. She gave him the last bit of potion and told him to put it on any wounds she had missed. She took another bottle, a new cloth and some bandages out of the chest. She poured some potion on the cloth and dabbed the cut on Endrax's cheek. He sat there with a joyful expression on his face.

"Doesn't it hurt?" she asked.

"Oh, no. It feels cool and pleasant." He responded dreamily. She took a small cotton cloth and placed it on the cut, keeping it in place with two bandages in a + shape.

"Alright you're good to go." she said. "David you need a shirt right?" David looked and the dirty, bloody rags on the floor beside him.

"Um…yea." He replied sheepishly. Josie motioned for him to come over to the crafting table where she was standing. He walked over and looked at what was in her hand. She held eight pieces of string from the spiders they had killed. She placed three down the right side, three down the left and two in the bottom and center middle. She wove the strings together until they were in the form of a shirt.

"There," she said. She tossed the shirt to David. He caught it and put it on.

"This feels great! Thanks!" She nodded and continued crafting. As she began pulling some wool and wood planks out of the chest, she looked over her shoulder. David went over and to the table and sat down. Endrax sat playing with the cat, dangling some dead vines above its head. Phillip was cooking four eggs, four pork chops and a fish. For some reason this simple scene filled her with excitement. She'd never heard of an Enderkin. Yet they knew of people and were intelligent like them and that made no sense to her. It was not only the Enderkin, but the injured traveler, David, who filled her with excitement. He had no memory, yet he had somehow survived an attack by a swarm of spiders and apparently a horde of zombies. That was interesting. She looked around at their small home one more time. She got the feeling that they weren't going to be returning to it after helping them cross the desert…


	7. Chapter 7- David: The Minecart

Chapter 7- David: The Minecart

After dinner, Josie set down some beds for David and Endrax. Endrax hadn't slept in a bed for a while, so he was very excited. He got under the covers and pulled them over his head and within minutes he was asleep. Josie and Phillip extinguished the torches, got into their beds, and said good night. David thanked them once again, and lied down. After he was sure that everyone was asleep, he sat up. The he reached underneath the bed and pulled out his backpack. He rummaged around underneath the wood and pulled out the manual. He flipped open the book and looked through it. As he thought: there were more recipes. After furnace, bricks, stone tools, etc. there were images of foods. "There are many edible concoctions in the world. Many can be combined or cooked to make even better tasting ones."

"Boring…," David thought to himself. He flipped through some crafting recipes and looked at a new section. "Transportation- There are times when walking or running are to tiring to continue, or are to slow, yet you need to keep moving. For these, there are vehicles. The first vehicles are minecarts. These objects are crafted using 7 iron ingots using both sides and the very bottom. This metallic contraption can be placed on mine tracks and given enough momentum, they speed along at astounding speeds. They must be pushed from a slope to gain momentum and start/keep moving. The only other way for them to move is if they are on redstone powered rails."

David skipped boats to look for mine tracks, but the pages hadn't updated. He flipped back a few pages and saw more updates. There was a stronger variety of weapons: iron weapons. Right after the weapons were a new item. "There are four pieces of armor: helmets, chestplates, leggings and boots. The more armor you wear, the less damage you take from attacks, whether they be human or monster inflicted. They do not prevent suffocating, drowning, burning or poisoning."

"Whatcha doin'?" David nearly jumped out of skin. He flinched back and banged his head into the wall. Josie covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. "Sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to scare you." She sat on his bed and looked at the book. "What's that?" she said.

"It's a book I found. On the second day of my, um, journey, I found this outside my little shack. It's got a lot of useful information." Josie scooted closer to David and rested her head on his shoulder. David stopped moving. His breathing became quiet and shallow. His face changed from brown to deep red. He glanced down at Josie. Her eyes were darting over the pages at a rapid pace.

"This is pretty cool…," she said tiredly after a while. She sat up and yawned, then pulled her feet onto the bed and leaned her whole body against David's side. He kept the book up and continued reading about armor, trying to ignore the girl lying on his arm. He flipped to the end of the book and started looking over the creatures, or "mobs". He read about zombies and spiders once again looking at the expertly drawn illustrations. Within a few minutes, he could hear Josie's breathing. He looked down and saw her lying with her head on his shoulder; her body sloped on his arm, blonde hair spread everywhere. He slowly placed the book beside and gently shook Josie. "Huh? Whassap?" she said groggily.

"Josie, you need to go to sleep," he said, pointing to her bed. She stood up and stumbled over to her bed. She quickly crawled under the covers and was asleep within minutes. David gazed at her for a few minutes, then opened the book again. He stared at the page depicting all the mobs and froze. Something was different. There were new pages again: new mobs. He flipped the page and saw four new mobs. Villagers, bats, skeletons and Iron Golems. David yawned and looked out the window. The sky was still dark and the moon was visible. He decided he'd read more in the morning.

When David woke up, people were bustling around. Phillip was packing foods, cobblestone and an extra sword into his backpack. Josie was packing crafting materials and blocks. Endrax was pulling the torches off of the wall, extinguishing them and handing them to Josie. David sat up, pulled the covers off of himself and stood up.

"What's going on?" he asked. Josie grabbed the sheets off of the floor, made the bed and smashed it into its carrying form.

"Here." She said, handing the item to David. "We're leaving to take you guys to the village. Can you carry some of this stuff?" she asked. She handed him some leather, torches, iron and pickaxes. He put a pickaxe and the rest of items on his belt. The other two were tossed into his backpack. He stretched and looked around. The chests were gone, as was the furnace. The wool making up the cats bed was gone…as was the cat.

"Hey, where'd your cat go?"

"Oh, Slendy's probably out getting chicken or fish or something."

"You named your cat Slendy?"

"No, his name is Slender. Slendy is his nickname."

"Is he how you get so many eggs?"

"Nah, chickens lay them all the time. We just pick up off the ground."

"Oh…so how're we getting to the village?" At this Phillip spun around and grinned maniacally.

"You'll see…hehe." After that, David didn't ask anymore questions. They had finished within a few minutes. Josie used their crafting table and some wool to make a white backpack for Endrax. He placed his bed inside of it and sat down at the table. David sat down as well, followed by Phillip and Josie. Phillip took out four apples and gave one to each of them out to everyone. "This is all we'll be having for breakfast, cause there'll be more food when we get to the village." David and Phillip devoured the apples in a few bites, while Josie and Endrax took their time. After they were finished, they all dropped down the ladder. When David hit the ground he looked at Josie up at the top. Her hair was in a ponytail again, unlike last night. At that thought he blushed quickly and pushed the thought out of his mind. Josie slid down the ladder and landed next to him.

"Alright, let's get moving," she said. "Phillip and I know exactly where to go." They all began walking in the direction the tree house was facing. Somewhere along the way, David saw that Josie was holding Slender, but David hadn't seen her pick him up. Eventually, they arrived at a wall of bushes and vines.

"How do we get through the village from here?" David asked. Phillip smiled and tore down the vines and leaves in his way. He smiled and gestures at the 4x5 tunnel looking back at them.

"Ta-da!" Phillip said. Josie quickly stepped to the front of the cave, a disturbingly serious look on her face.

"Lets get one thing straight right now," she said. "No one sneaks up on me, no one makes any noises, and Endrax, don't teleport." she said. David and Endrax glanced at Phillip.

"I used to scare her when we came through here. She's terrified of the dark." David and Endrax shrugged it off and they began walking through the tunnel. Josie lit a torch, tossed it to David, and lit one for herself. They walked down deeper into the cave, the entrance getting farther and farther behind them. David could here the moans of zombies and the hisses of spiders.

He must have looked uneasy, because Phillip told him, "Don't worry, the monsters down here are terrified of us." As they walked further into the cave, all that could be heard was the dripping of water from somewhere above them and their feet hitting the cold, grey stone. After a while they reached a section in the tunnel that was 2x1.

"I'll go first." Josie said. "David you bring up the rear." Josie extinguished her torch and went into the tunnel first, followed by Phillip, Endrax and then David. The tunnel was extremely dark and David couldn't see in front of him. After a while he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. The group exited the small tunnel and entered a larger room that was filled with light. David squinted in the sudden light and let his eyes adjust. The room was a one block drop to the ground and from there it was about 14 blocks up. There were minecarts on 1 block wide pathways, with a dark, shiny substance on them. Robotic lasers, rusty metallic railing and tiny, pick wielding robots littered the chamber. Yet not a single torch was in sight. David walked around the cavern staring at all the machinery and wires covering the cavern. He kept walking forward looking straight up until…

"David, watch out!" Endrax yelled. David stopped just in time and looked forwards. He had come to the edge of a huge cliff. He backed away a bit, so as not to be on the very edge, then peered over. There was a steep straight drop-off. The bottom wasn't visible, just a black, seemingly bottomless pit. In the upper of the pit, spanning from one 2x1 hole on the side where they sat to the other, leading into a cavern, was a series of glass blocks, seemingly forming a bridge. From the 2x1 hole, poured a thick, bubbling, red-orange liquid that poured into the next 2x1 hole. Josie and Endrax ran over to David and yanked him away from the cliff.

"Are you okay?" Endrax asked worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. You guys see those over there?"

"What those minecarts? They've been here. They were abandoned with this mine why?" David ran over to the Minecart and smashed it with his pick. He picked up the now small minecart, pulled out his crafting table and placed the minecart on it.

"Hey Phillip, bring me the furnace." Phillip rummaged around in his bag and tossed the furnace to David. He placed the furnace above the minecart and pressed them together. By the magic of crafting they sealed themselves together. David put the new minecart into his belt. David broke another minecart and put into his belt then looked around for more. After he realized that there were no more he took out the iron pieces and placed them on the table.

"David! Those are for armor!" Josie whined. David ignored her and connected the iron ingots into another minecart. He took it out and walked over to the black, glittery substance. He bent down and blew on the substance and the rotting black matter dispersed. Underneath were iron ingots fastened with sticks. He placed both minecarts on the dusty track, then reached in and used the hook on the front and to connect them. He pushed the two minecarts a little ways onto the track.

"Alright, every one get on. Endrax teleported into the first cart and sat down in the seat (which is in the back facing deeper into the cave). Phillip climbed over the second cart and into the first with Endrax.

"Oh, boo! There's no space in here!" Phillip complained. After a little bit of rearranging, Phillip had enough room to stand in front, with Endrax sitting cross legged on the seat. Josie walked up and sat in the first cart.

"You coming, David?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yea, we can get going in a minute. Can give me some coal?" Josie looked annoyed at David, but then sighed and handed him five pieces of coal. David opened the hatch of the Furnace connected to the minecart. He tossed in the coal, closed and locked the lid, then bent down and hooked the furnace-powered minecart to the second one. He grabbed the rim of the second cart and swung around, landing in its front section. The furnace whistled and the back cart began to move pushing the two in front of it.

"Nice work David!" Josie said. "With this we can be at the village before nightfall! It usually takes us three days to get there! How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't. It just seemed familiar…" As they rode along the rails, they began to talk. Neither David nor Endrax had much to share: David's memories were gone and Endrax had lived alone in the surrounding plains all his life. Josie and Phillip had lived in a city north of the desert where the village was, on a high, snowy, mountain. The city was taken over by a rivaling kingdom and their mother fled with young Josie and baby Phillip. Their father died fighting the opposing kingdom. Their mother died a few years later.

"Wow…that must have been hard for you…" David said.

"Yeah…but we deal with it…" Josie said, wiping away a tear from her eye.

"Mrow."

"Thanks Slendy…" she said patting its head. Suddenly the cart started slowing down. David took some more coal and tossed it into the furnace. The cart kept on chugging along. After a while, the cart reached a hill. The cart pumped and pumped and pumped, suddenly, they saw a red glow and a golden glint on the tracks.

"Hey, what's on tracks ahead?" Endrax asked. As soon as the carts wheels hit them, they shot forward like a bullet. The cart sped up the hill until it reached the drop. It hit the air for a split second and then sped straight down. Everyone screamed. Phillip was thrown to the floor of the cart underneath the rim of the cart from the force of the air. Endrax held onto his miners cap to keep it from blowing off. Slender was tucked underneath David's feet as he held onto the cart rim. Josie had her hands wrapped around David's neck and was holding on for dear life, screaming her head off.

The cart sped down the track at unimaginable speeds and every time it began to slow down, the cart hit another red-gold track. The cart went down a swirling drop, where the tracks turned in a spiral direction. The cart began to tip to the side of the rail and sparks began to fly. Phillip began to panic and lean away from the side. The cart shook violently for a second and then snapped back into place they went deeper and deeper. The stone and ores around them were a blur. Soon they couldn't even scream: the air had become thin and they were gasping for it. The cart finally spun onto a straight track. The cart was still speeding, hitting a red-gold block every few seconds. David's eyes were squinted and filled with tears. He blinked to try for better vision. He could see the back of Phillip's head against the rim of the cart, Endrax holding onto the front rim of the cart with his head down. Josie's arms were wrapped around him tighter and he could feel her pressing up against his back. He would've blushed if he had been thinking clearly but all the blood in his body was racing to his head. Suddenly, he heard an unmistakable moan: Zombies. He tried opening his eyes wider. Two zombies were sitting on the tracks, eating…something. And the cart wasn't about to stop. He closed his eyes and braced for impact. He felt the cart hit the disintegrating flesh of the zombies and their hisses of pain. The minecarts flew forward and smashed onto the ground. David's vision was fuzzy. He lifted his head up and looked around. Phillip was laying face up a few feet from Endrax who was on his side. Josie was right next to him, on her back, her arm outstretched towards his. He lay back down, reached out his hand and held onto Josie's and then, he passed out again.

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. School work and trying to set up my youtube account, etc. I will not be accepting anymore characters. I've already got enough, and the ones selected won't appear for a while. Remember critique the chapters and tell me if something is missing in the plot or if the story is moving to fast or something.


	8. Chapter 8- Josie: The Mineshaft

Josie slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a large pair of purple eyes directly over her. She just about fainted again. After a moment or two of dizziness, she propped herself up on her elbow. "Endrax?" she said hoarsely. She coughed and cleared her throat when she heard how hoarse her voice was. She looked over to where Endrax was sitting. The Enderkin was sitting cross-legged with the cat in his lap. There was a large cut down the side of his upper right arm. Behind him she saw Phillip lying on his back. She tried to get and then felt something on her arm.

She looked down and saw David on his back…and her hand in his. She stared at their intertwined hands for a few seconds, blushing, before snapping herself out of it. She took her hand and carefully removed it out of David's. She then took him and flipped him onto his stomach. She noticed that his shirt had a light red stain on it. She pulled the back of his shirt up. There was a sizable gash in his back.

"Hey, Endrax, bring Phillip over here." She administered more curing potion to David. Not being conscious, she could feel his muscles twitching as the potion made contact with his blood stream. After the bleeding stopped and she rubbed away the remaining blood with a cloth and covered him in a bandage. She rolled his shirt back down and went to work on Endrax. She put the potion on the cut and mopped up his shining purple blood. She then covered it with a bandage. She looked over Phillips face and he seemed to be fine she turned him over and his back was fine as well. She lifted him up onto her back.

"Endrax, can you help carry David?"

"Yes." He replied. He walked over to David and lifted him up over his shoulder. "We are leaving now, yes?"

"Definitely." She walked over and grabbed the minecart pieces quickly, before she dropped Phillip. Maybe she could sell them at the village. They walked down the dimly lit path for what seemed like an eternity. Endrax had to put David down once or twice before he finally woke up. He began walking with them, staggering tiredly and gasping for air, like Endrax and Josie. They walked for hours on end, seeing no more monsters, but the tracks continued on. Eventually, Phillip woke up, but he wasn't acting like his usual self. He seemed tired and depressed. After walking for another half hour they reached it: the end of the tracks. The mine sloped upwards as far as the eye could see. They staggered up the stairs, tired and relieved. There was a huge opening lined with torches. The ground outside was made of pure white sand. Cacti littered the landscape off in the distance was a collection of wood and stone: the village. The group began to jump around excitedly hugging and hi-fiving each other. Then the heard it. A rhythmic, dry, clanking noise. A slow, deep moan. Off in the distance, among the cacti and sand dunes, there were zombies and another humanoid figure, holding some sort of weapon in its hand.

"Skeletons…" Josie murmured quietly to herself. She reached into her belt and grasped her bow tightly. "Grab your weapons boys." She said, her voice shaking slightly. David, Endrax and Phillip took out their swords and readied them. And with a few deep breaths of fresh air, they were ready to take on the monsters.

Sorry I haven't been posting for such a long time. Homework and Mid-Terms and shit. And as I presume the case is with most of you, doing schoolwork for weeks (and weekends) on end, severely saps your creative juices. I've slowly been writing up chapters and trying to stockpile them, but I only have a few more... I'll take a couple of days of lounging during christmas break and then try to type at least 3 more chapters and update two. Thanks for sticking with the story!

- Dinomatrix21


	9. Chapter 9- Josie: The Desert

The gang crept slowly along the sides of the mountain wall. They had left the cave behind and were searching for a safe route across the desert. Zombies, spiders, and skeletons roamed the surrounding area. Josie scouted ahead, searching for an opening to which they might cross. Suddenly she saw it: two skeletons parted ways to opposite sides of the desert. No zombies or spiders lay in the path.

"Let's move guys!" she called behind her. The boys dashed forward and followed her. They dashed through the open track not making much noise above that of the monsters. Suddenly a skeleton turned to face them. Its eye sockets were hollow like a zombie's, with a red light glowing in the middle. There was no flesh. No muscle. Nothing but bone and marrow. How did these things move? Josie still didn't know, but now she didn't care. She pulled out her bow, notched an arrow and nailed it right between the eyes. The creatures head flew off and a loud, slow creek echoed across the desert as the skeleton tried to screech with its non-existent voice box. Finally the skull detached from the jaw and the rest of the body collapsed. Just like every other time she had killed one of her archer rivals, she could have sworn she saw a pale wispy vapor flow off of the pile of bones. Suddenly, vicious shrieks and groans were heard. Zombies, spiders and skeletons were dashing towards them, some of them idiotically impaling themselves on the surrounding cactus spikes.

"Shit, we gotta run guys!" Phillip screamed. He and Slender dashed forward, the rest of the group following closely behind. As they passed through the crowd of monsters Phillip, David and Endrax began swiping at mobs. Even though they were slashing at bodies and chopping off limbs, the mobs kept coming, in greater and greater numbers. Josie had been bashing creatures in the head with her bow, though this only seemed to stun them.

"Guys, over here!" David called. The group dashed forward and climbed up a thin sandstone tower. Just as they scrambled to the top, spiders and zombies began scrambling up to attack them. David swung his pick and impaled a zombie in the side of the head. The zombie fell back and toppled into two of its companions, their innards splattering on the white sand. David then took his pick and smashed it through a spiders head. Its body fell to the sand and green fluid leaked from underneath it. Before any more mobs could reach the tower, David broke away the bottom most pieces of sandstone and scrambled back up the tower. The zombies backed up and dashed at the wall, only to crash into the two block high wall. Those trying to climb couldn't sink their claws into the smooth sandstone. The spiders began to climb up, but Phillip quickly sliced them across the face or chopped their legs off. Josie notched her bow and began firing arrows at any approaching skeletons or spiders.

"Hey Endrax!" Josie called. "Can you help us out?!" She turned only to see that Endrax had disappeared. She didn't have any time to be surprised or angry, as skeleton arrows whizzed past her hair. She turned back and began to fire more arrows. Another few skeletons down. David had switched out his pick for his sword. One splintered off in a spider's abdomen and he threw the handle into the ribcage of a skeleton. The creature's body collapsed into a pile of bones, just like all those before it. "Guys, we're not going make it like this! Let's run!" She jumped of the back of the mound: A three block jump. She stumbled when her foot hit the ground, but continued running. David jumped off and followed her and after killing another spider, followed suit. They took off running through the desert. Josie looked behind her. A spider had reached the top of the mound and crawled down, its fangs glistening with saliva. It's screeched and dashed after them. Soon many more spiders followed, along with zombies speeding across the sand and skeletons with their arrows raining from the skies. The group ran and ran. Josie looked back once again. The mob was closer and Phillip was gone. Josie looked around David was gone as well. Then she felt a hand around her mouth and on her head. And the desert fell away.

Suddenly, she was in a dark void, tiny purple, green and red particles floating like static in the infinite darkness. She felt the hand pull away from her head and she turned around. There was Endrax, his face serious and his eyes glowing. And then she felt as if she was falling. Falling a thousand feet in an instant. And then she was on the ground. Surrounded by cactus. In the small hole, the door was floor sand, she could feel it. She began to walk around when…whump. She hit something. It was warm and fleshy and slightly wet. She moved forward and placed her hand on the object slowly. Suddenly a torch was placed. She withdrew her hand and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her face was inches away from David's. She could feel herself blushing and she saw David doing the same. She pulled herself back quickly and she and David stood up and dusted the sand off of themselves. She looked around and saw Phillip and Slender.

"Phillip!" she shouted. She ran over and hugged him squeezing him with all her strength.

"O-okay! You're crushing…me!" Phillip wheezed. She put him down and rubbed Slenders head.

"How'd you guys get here?" she asked.

"Endrax teleported us." He pointed over to Endrax, who standing at the only opening in the cactus fort. He had his hands on the top of the block and was peering out, looking for the mobs. Suddenly an arrow shot through the hole and Endrax moved out of the way just in time. He quickly pulled a piece of cactus out of his pack and placed it in the hole.

"We no should leave until morning." he said calmly. He pulled out his bed, placed it in the corner, put his pack and helmet underneath it and crawled under the covers. "Good night." he yawned. He was asleep within minutes. David, Josie and Phillip placed their beds and Josie placed the two pieces of wood making up Slenders bed. David gave the crafting table to Phillip and he crafted a furnace. He placed 3 chickens and one fish into the furnace. When they cooked, he gave one to David and one to Josie. He tossed the fish to Slender. They sat on their beds eating in silence. After a while, David kicked off his shoes and went to sleep. A few minutes later, Phillip curled up in bed and said good night. Josie eventually pulled the covers up over herself and tried to fall asleep. The sound of the mobs outside made it hard. Eventually, sleep won over…but the sounds invaded her dreams and made them nightmares.


	10. Chapter 10- Phillip- Arriving in Town

Chapter 10: Phillip- Arriving in Town

Phillip opened his eyes slowly and groggily. He was facing a spiked wall of cactus. He rolled over off of the bed and onto a floor of sand. There was cactus above them too. He sat up and looked around slowly recalling what had happened last night. He stood up and shook off the covers, flinging sand everywhere. Slender stood up and yawned, shaking himself a little before walking up to Phillip. They sat down on the bed and Phillip rubbed behind the cat's ear. Then he heard fire. Not a small campfire flame, but a huge roaring fire. He grabbed his sword and sliced through a block of cactus. He bent down and peered outside, surprised and relieved at what he saw. The skeletons and zombies were on fire. The skeletons bones melting, the zombies flesh peeling and charring. The spiders stumbled around groggily, stumbling to the jungle to get to their nest for sleep.

Phillip sliced the bottom block out of the hut and walked outside. The sun had just risen over the horizon, its life-giving rays bringing death to the monsters. He walked out side and lay down in the sand. Inside he heard the others stirring. He stayed on the ground and Slender walked forward and sat with him. He got up, said good morning and put some porkchops on the crafting table, turning the six into six bacon strips. He tossed them into the furnace along with a fish and sat down on the bed. They began to talk about getting to the village, how nice and hospitable the people were when suddenly they heard a short, low hiss and the sound of light, muffled footsteps. Phillip stood up to investigate, but before he could reach the exit, Slender dashed out of the hut. He turned the corner and hissed ferociously, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. Phillip dashed out side, sword in hand, but when he arrived, there was no one outside. He picked up Slender and carried him back inside. Soon, they packed up their beds, the crafting table and the furnace and headed outside. As they began trekking through the desert, Slender seemed on edge. He would jump of and on Phillip or Josie shoulder, hissing insanely, teeth and claws bared. Then within an instant he stopped and continued on with the group. They looked at the possible source multiple times, but there was never anything but cacti…

Eventually, they reached the village. The town was filled with small buildings made of oak planks, oak wood, cobblestones and stone slabs. Children Josie and Phillip's age roamed the town, along with the adults of the village who seemed to be conducting trades and whatnot. Josie and Phillip walked in and were immediately greeted. They were offered numerous trades and such but each was turned down.

"Hey Randolph, do you know where Mayor Eliza is?" Josie asked. The tall farmer, who had been talking intently with the butcher, turned and looked at Josie. "Hey there kiddo! Haven't seen you guys in a while." He placed a large powerful hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "The mayor? I think she's at her house. If the Iron golems don't let you by, the password is 'Rose'."

"Okay, thanks. See you around." The group walked through the town, admiring the fountains and the crisp clean dirt on which the village stood. Pigs ran around rummaging through the mud, chickens laying eggs everywhere and ducks swimming in the fountain. Eventually they reached the back of the village. The building was a small brick mansion, surrounded with 4 block tall iron fence. The roof was covered with oak shingles and there were numerous glass pane windows on the first and second floors. The yard was filled with flowers and tall grass, where rabbits frolicked and birds sang.

David and Endrax gawked at the massive structure in front of them while Josie and Phillip walked straight up the gravel path to the iron door. As soon as they reached the end of the path, two enormous, rusty metallic statues came to life. They flexed their large rounded hands and their joints creaked with movement. As they roared to life, the vines on their bodies broke free from their point of origin, hanging solely on the golem's bodies. Their eyes glowed the color red and they stepped close together blocking the door by standing shoulder to shoulder.

"State your name and business here." the left golem said.

"My name is Josie, and this is my brother Phillip. Those two are our friends David and Endrax. We're here to see Mayor Eliza."

"Name: David. Does not compute. Name: Endrax. Does not compute. Name: Josie. Does not compute. Name: Phillip. Access Granted. You may enter." The golems parted ways and Phillip rushed inside. Once in he waited at the doorway for his friends to be able to pass.

"Humph. Fine. Password 'Rose'." Josie said irritated.

"Password: Rose. Verifying Access…Access granted. You may pass." The golems parted ways again, and Josie, Endrax and David passed through the doorway. The inside of the house was even more impressive than the outside. The floor was colored in blue wool and a wooden chandelier hung from the ceiling. There was a magnificent skylight and bookshelves lined the walls. There were two hallways to the left and right of the main hall. The one to the left read 'guest rooms', while the one to the right read 'dining hall'. There was a set of stone bricks leading up to a landing that broke off into upper left and right wings and a door on the landing leading into a lone room. From the door came another iron golem. However this one was smaller only two blocks tall, slightly taller than the kids.

Unlike the bulky, rusty counterparts that guarded the mansion entrance, this one was thinner, about the same girth as a human. Its joints were ball-and-socket instead of segmented plating and it seemed to be wearing a dark grey top and loincloth. A vine was draped over its right shoulder and hung down to its upper thigh. It had grey wool coming from the top of its head, like hair and had a light grey hat, similar to the head of the golem outside. The feminine golem turned to the door way and cupped her hand to the side of her mouth.

"Madame, someone is here to see you."

"Alright, I'll be out in a minute." A voice called. A few seconds later, a lovely young woman in a strapless green dress and long green gloves exited the doorway. Her hair was a reddish-brown coloring tied into a massive single braid and put over the front of her shoulder. Her eyes were a light lime green and she radiated elegance and power as she walked down the stairs. She paused abruptly when she saw Endrax, but quickly gained her composure. "Hello Josie, Phillip." She said with a smile. "How are you today? Who're your friends?"

"Oh we're great. This is David and Endrax."

"Hello. Nice to meet both of you." she said curtseying.

"Nice to meet you too, ma'am."

"Now, Josie, what is it you need?"

"Well, you see, David here has amnesia. We were wondering if there were anything we could do to get his memory back."

"Hm. That is a problem. Maybe you should take him to see Doctor William."

"Alright. Also, we'll need a place to stay for a couple of nights. Would it be alright if we stayed here?"

"Of course! Stay as long as you need to."

"Thank you. Phillip and I need to go and buy more supplies. Is there anyone who can show Endrax and David around?"

"Absolutely. Rosy, could you please go get Gabriel from her room? She has work to do!"

"Yes ma'am." The iron golem walked up the stairs and up to the east wing as Mayor Eliza walked back into her office.

"Shit…!" Phillip thought. He stole an anxious glance at Josie, who returned the glance and nodded.

"Alright guys look around the town and behave yourselves." Josie said sternly.

"You're not my mom…" David replied. As soon as the door was closed, Phillip and Josie bolted.

"We've gotta get to the farm! She'll never look for me there!" Phillip said.

"Good idea! Lets go!" They took off through the village until they reached a large wooden barn with a silo at it's base and a fence surrounding it. They walked quickly through the fence gate and around the small house next to it. They knocked on the door and waited for the owner to unlock the door. A few minutes later the door swung open and they were greeted by a tall man with a brown robe and mossy red-brown hair. He wore a brown robe and a light yellow straw hat and held a pitchfork in his hand.

"Hey, Phillip Josie! Ain't seen y'all round here for a while! Whatcha' need?"

"Hi Eli. We umm… wanted to trade." Josie said.

"Alright, whatcha need?"

"Well we need 16 porkchops, 13 wheat, 8 bread, 7 mushroom soup and 7 chickens."

"Hm… that totals up to be about...$20.00." Josie handed the farmer 13 coal and Phillip handed him one cobble. "Thank yah kindly." he replied.

They exited the farm and began to roam around the town. They sold some wood and wool to get some iron and some more wheat. When they had finished trading, they began to head back to the mansion. The sun had begun to set and the sky was a violent pink. As they were discussing what they should do tomorrow, Phillip felt a powerful force ram into his stomach. He lay there dazed, for a second, until he realized what had happened. Gabriel had tackled him.

"Oh Phillip! I haven't seen you in so long!" she said, crushing him beneath her body. Phillip struggled and squirmed trying to get away from the crazed villager. She stood up pulled him to his feet and pressed his face into her chest. "I thought I'd never be able to hold you like this again…" she said holding the back of his head to her body. Phillip pushed against her arms, frantically trying to escape.

"Damnit, Gabriel I told you to stop doing that!" he screamed at her, blushing. David and Endrax came up the path panting hard.

"Jeez. Gabriel you're…freaking fast… That wasn't…a tour at all…" David said panting between words.

"I'll do anything to get to my precious Phillip as soon as possible." she said placing a hand on Phillips face, which he quickly slapped away. Phillip looked back at Gabriel, glaring angrily. She looked the same as she had when they had when they had met four months ago. She wore the same long brown robe, the same creamy skin, the same red-brown hair in two braids that merged into one below her chin. Yep, she looked the same. Except that she had grown a little taller and gotten…bigger. Phillip closed his eyes and shook his head, knocking the image out of his mind.

"You've gotta stop hugging me like that Gabriel. It's embarrassing."

"But Phillip, I love you!"

"I don't believe that, and besides your four years older than I am. It's…weird." At this, David and Endrax began to snicker. Josie gave them a death stare and they stopped. At this, Gabriel looked over at Josie and the two met glances. Their glaring match held for at least ten seconds, both sides with hatred in their eyes.

"Uh…Phillip? What is happening?" Endrax said.

"For some weird reason, Gabriel hates Josie. Every chance she gets, she tries to torture or humiliate her."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Josie. Still haven't been showering regularly I see."

"Why do hate me?" Josie asked. "Do I pose a threat to you or something?! I don't get it!" Gabriel ignored Josie and began circling her, looking her up and down.

"Hmph. Still insecure as well." she said.

"Argh! I don't have time for this bullshit!" Josie yelled as she stormed off to the house. The group walked off after her, giving each other looks of confusion. When they arrived at the house, Gabriel gave Phillip a quick kiss on the cheek and ran off to her room. Phillip shuddered and wiped his face off. They walked into the guest rooms and saw eight entrances, four on each side of the hallway.

The third door down on the left was closed and light was shining out of it. This had to mean that Josie was in that room. Phillip walked into the room farthest down on the left and shut the door.

The floor was made of bright green wool. Inside was a clean, freshly made bed, a wood block serving as a nightstand with a lamp on it and a chest. The room was relatively small, but still roomy enough. He took off his backpack and tossed it on top of the chest. He flopped on the bed and looked out his window.

The sky was a deep dark orange hue. The rest of the villagers were locking up animal pens, closing down shops and heading into their homes. He could hear David, Josie and Endrax now leaving their rooms and walking upstairs. He stayed on the bed, looked up at the ceiling, and quickly fell asleep.

Well there's a ton of weird, broken stuff in this chapter, I know. I've learned not to write when I'm tired anymore.


	11. Chapter 11- David: Hissssss

Chapter 11- David: Hissssss

David walked up the stairs of the west wing with Endrax and Josie. The stairs looped around and above the main hall. David looked over the railing. It looked like it would be a really…really long fall. He dashed up the stairs to follow the others. Josie motioned to the room on the left.

"These are the showers. The bathrooms are also in here, as well as some towels and soap and stuff." She quickly motioned to the room on the right. "This is the laundry room. There are some clothes you can wear in here if yours are too dirty or something." She sat there with her arms crossed.

Endrax walked into the bathroom first. As soon as he was gone, David placed an arm on Josie's shoulder. "What?" she asked haughtily.

"You o.k.? Gabriel seems to have really pissed you off."

"That girl is SO infuriating! Every time we come here, she tries her best to humiliate me! I'm sick of her shit!"

"It'll be fine. Just ignore her and keep your distance. She won't have the opportunity to make fun of you." he replied patting her jokingly on the head. David walked into the room and grabbed a towel off the rack next to the door. One of the showers was running and a pair of black feet was visible in the gap under the stall. David got into the shower. A few minutes later he stepped out and wrapped his towel around himself. He walked out of the showers and into the laundry room. The room was lined with chest each with different labels. He rummaged through the chest, gathered up some clothes and walked back down to his room. He threw on his new turquoise shirt and purple pants. He grabbed his bag and rummaged around inside, finally pulling out the manual. He sat on his bed and flipped through the pages. There were many new crafting recipes and creatures. A few pages were he was absolutely positive the creatures had ended, more pages were filled. An image of a bat had appeared. It was a small creature, very fuzzy looking animal with thin skin-covered wings. The small icon next to it was a green square, meaning it wouldn't attack.

He flipped forward a few pages and found something awkward: an image of a villager. A scraggly woman stood crookedly in the image, wearing a purple robe and tall, pointy, black hat. She had wild red hair and her eyes were separate colors, deep purple in one and dark crimson red in the other. In each hand, she held a glass bottle, filled with a sort of liquid. David began reading the caption underneath.

Witches are outcast of villages, detested for using magic formulas and potions to do necromancy experiments. They craft small huts in swamps, where they can easily gather their potion ingredients. They hate intruders and-

"Hisssss…"

David looked up from The Manual and looked around. He could have sworn he had heard something… He shrugged it off and went back to the caption. They hate intruders and throw sacks of deadly potions, used to cause slowness, weakness, damage and poison. They often carry-

"Hissssssss…" David looked up again. He was positive he had heard something this time. He folded the corner of his page, stood up, walked to his window and peered outside. The world was dark. There were a few torches lit, but they were quite far from his window. He saw something moving towards the corner of the glass. He focused his sight in that direction but…he couldn't quite see. Suddenly a face appeared at the window. But this was no human face. It had twisted, gnarled, flaky green skin with multiple dents and dark patches. The face was rounded, yet seemed hollow with a mouth in a deep, eternal, frown. The eye-sockets were hollow with a deep, consuming blackness.

David and the creature looked at each other for the longest time. Then the back of the creatures head expanded a small bit. David's eyes widened in astonishment. Then the left eye-socket. Then the whole creature began to expand at a rapid pace, growing bigger and bigger, expanding like a balloon. David began to back slowly away from the window. Its eyes glowed red and it continued making the hissing noise. Then there was a fast, deafening, piercing noise followed by an explosion. David flew backwards out of the room, crashed through the door and tumbled out of the room.

He opened his eyes slowly. His vision was fuzzy and blurred and his ears were ringing. There seemed to be a figure over him, saying something. What was it saying?

"David! David! David, get up!" David blinked a few more times and saw who was above him. It was Josie. David slowly sat up and rubbed his head. "Oh thank Notch, you're alive!" She stood up and helped him to his feet. He stared at the broken wall in his bedroom. There were bits and pieces of stone brick, wool, glass, and wood everywhere. Among the debris were the creatures mangled, bloody body parts. David limped over to the charred, splintered bed and grabbed his backpack and the manual. His pack was slightly singed, but otherwise undamaged. While the book was…completely fine? He ignored this fact and placed it in his pack then walked back out to the doorway.

"Are you okay? Is anything broken?" she said examining his arms and back.

"I'm fine. Did you see that thing?" he asked in awe.

"No. What was it?"

"It was about the size of a person, considering I could see eye to eye with it. Well, eye to eye-socket. It just, had these big empty black holes and a mouth in this odd, twisted frown. Its skin was green and wrinkled and it made this weird hissing noise." David shuddered as the image of the creature swept through his mind. Before Josie could reply, Phillip, Gabriel, Mayor Eliza and Rosie came down the hallway.

"What happened? Is everyone alright?" the mayor asked alarmed.

"We're fine, but there was some mob outside. It blew up the side of the wall."

"Hm. Rosie, go get the blacksmith. See if she can fix this wall. David, you can choose a new room. I'll activate the golems to go on patrol." The mayor turned on her heels and walked swiftly away.

"Dinner will be ready soon!" Gabriel said cheerfully as she left. Josie eyed her skeptically as she left.

"Dude, what happened?" Phillip asked excitedly.

"Some sort of green mob exploded outside of the window and destroyed the wall."

"What do mean exploded? Like a zombie with TNT or something?"

"No it looked more like a, a plant-monster or something. Its face was gnarled like tree roots and the skin was all flaky, like a bunch of leaves."

"Never heard of something like that…" Phillip said.

"C'mon lets go to my room. We can talk more there." Josie said. They walked to the end of the hallway and into the room. David sat at the foot of the bed, Josie near the head and Phillip in the chair at the desk. They sat in thought for a few minutes, contemplating what the creature could have been. "I've got it! Look through that book you've got!" Josie said.

"What book?" Phillip asked.

"Oh yeah. Wonder why I didn't think of that." David said reaching for his backpack.

"What book?" Phillip asked again.

He quickly pulled out the leather coated manual and began flipping through the later pages. Josie and David moved behind to view the pages as well. They examined the book for sometime, but every time Josie or Phillip picked out a creature, David dismissed it due to indirect features (most of them being "I don't think that blows up."). Eventually they reached the end of the updated pages. Josie flopped back onto the bed.

"I can't believe that book has all this information on all these crafting recipes and weapons and tools, but it hardly has anything on mobs!" she said covering her face with a pillow.

"Well I think it's pretty cool, considering what it does have." They all got up and walked out of the room.

"What should we do now?" Phillip asked.

"Maybe we should find Endrax." David said. "I haven't seen him since I was in the showers."

"I'll go check there." Phillip said, dashing up the stairs.

"Come on, we'll go check the east wing." Josie said grabbing David's arm and yanking him along. They dashed up the stairs to the east wing and into the hallway.

"What's up here?" David asked.

"The armory. There's tons of weapons and armor up here." she responded. She opened up the first door and walked inside. Inside were wood and stone axes and swords. They were polished and hung inside frames on the wall. "This is where they store the weapons in case of raiders or mob attacks." She stepped into the room and looked around. "Well he's not in here." They walked across the hall into another large room, this one filled with leather armors of all different colors.

"Not in here." David responded looking inside the room. They searched all the rooms, some filled with food, others with more weapons and armor. Finally they reached the door at the end of the hall. "What's this?" David asked.

"The library. There're mostly stories in here, a few almanacs and a map or two." She opened the door and walked inside. Sitting at the base of a bookshelf was Endrax, surrounded by a "fort" of books. His head was cocked to the side, his eyes closed.

David walked over and tapped on Endrax's helmet a few times.

"Hey buddy, wake up." Endrax sat up and opened his eyes. He looked around confused and then looked up at David.

"…I fell asleep…" he said groggily. He stood and walked through his pile of books to the doorway. "What are we doing?" he asked Josie.

"Um it's time to eat. Come on, lets go." she said motioning to David. He walked over and the three of them walked down the hall too the stairs. When they arrived in the kitchen, Phillip was already there, along with Slender and Gabriel.

"Glad you could finally join us, Josie." Gabriel said smugly.

"Shut up, priss." Josie responded. The group took their seats and Phillip, Josie and David explained to Endrax what had happened. Gabriel sat in her seat barely eating, more so gawking at Phillip while Slender stalked around the window.

"I've never seen a green exploding thing. I wonder what is." Endrax said curiously. Just then, Slender let out a loud, horrifying cry and jumped at the window. Everyone in the room turned in astonishment, watching the cat pounce furiously at the glass. Josie ran over and picked Slender up mid-pounce and began stroking him gently. The cat ceased fidgeting and curled up in her arms, still staring menacingly at the window.

"What is up with that cat of yours?" Gabriel asked.

"He probably doesn't like being kept in this house. I'm gonna let him go outside." Josie responded walking to the door." The group continued eating until they heard a loud scream. The group jumped up from the table and dashed into the main foyer. Slender was at the hole where the door used to be, back arched and fur standing up, hissing, while Josie stood a little ways, bow notched, eyes wide with fear. Her breathing was deep and heavy and her hand was shaky on the arrow string. David, Endrax and Phillip ran to Josie's side swords at the ready, while Gabriel snuck quietly into the unlit hallway. David stared at the green creatures empty eye sockets.

"Is…is that the green thing you spoke of David?" Phillip asked. David nodded swallowing the fear in his heart. The creature surveyed the group scanning over each of them slowly with its mangled face. Before it could make a move, Slender took a lunge at the creature and it backed away swiftly, turning and fleeing into the dark night. Slender quickly dashed after it, chasing it onto the dim gravel streets. The group slowly and cautiously lowered their swords and put them away.

"Wow…" Josie said. "That thing… was horrid."

"It was like…staring into the void…" Endrax replied. The group began to discuss what the thing was, were it came from, and why it was in the village. Eventually they hit a dead end in the conversation. They said good night and everyone retired to their rooms. Once inside, David tossed his backpack and belt onto the chest and flopped onto the bed, the events of the day flashing through his head.

Ooh, longish chapter with mysterious stuff. Someone said these needed more action. If this wasn't enough, I've still got more , school is a bitch. Can't wait for summer. At least I have good grades!


	12. Chapter 12- David: The Dark Lord

Chapter 12- David: The Dark Lord

David awoke feeling fully rested. When he sat up and looked around his vision was fuzzy; all he could see were shades of red and black. When his vision cleared, in front of him was a massive floating island made of four mountains, consisting of a glistening red substance. On the peaks of the red mountains was a black and purple stone, covering the tops and various areas around the base. The entire red mountain range was surrounded by a dark brown substance that was shifting, moving like some sort of living goo and dotting the landscape were trees that seemed to be made of a glowing stone. From the tops of the mountains, lava flowed like water over the sides of the landscape into small burning rivers that pored off the small island. In the middle of the four mountains was an enormous fortress made of a deep red stone with large bridges of the same stone bored into each mountain. David looked around eagerly. Aside from his bed and the small red island, he was floating over a sea of shadows.

"Do not look for an escape. There is none." David spun around and saw the man who had made the comment. His skin was dark ebony brown and his hair was black, just like David's. He wore a black hoodie with the sleeves rolled up, dark blue jeans and iron boots. A turquoise colored sickle was in his right hand while a turquoise pickaxe was strapped to his back…and his eyes glowed white.

David reached for his sword, then realized that both his belt and backpack were back in his room. Wherever that was.

"Do not be alarmed human. I am not here to harm you yet."

"What do you mean, yet?"

"In time, we will fight and you **will** die. But that is well in the future. For now, I need to speak with you."

"Hold on, who the heck are you? Where are we?" David was on edge and ready for a fight, but he tried to keep calm, as not to provoke this person.

"I am the dark lord of the Underworld, brother to the lord of the Overworld. This is a small portion of my domain, The Nether, where my palace is. Anymore questions?" David glared into the man's glowing eyes and grimaced.

"Good. There is a threat to your world from an alternate dimension. It is the same one your dark friend is from."

"You mean Endrax?" David replied.

"Yes, whatever he is called. An ancient evil is awakening after eons of sleep. Its plan is to rally its armies and enslave your civilization to make way for its own. I cannot allow this."

"Why do you care? I thought you were the god of your own realm."

"Though I loathe my brother's realm and all he created to dwell within it, it is linked to mine. If it is conquered and tainted by the dark force, mine will be as well. This is why I need your help."

"Me? Why me?" David asked, confused.

"You are the descendant of the one who defended your land against an even greater threat in past times. Now, it's your turn." David stared back into his glowing white eyes in disbelief.

"You're kidding me right? I'm definitely not the descendant of a great hero. I've barely got any survival skills, I hardly know anything about the world and on top of all that, I have no memory!" he exclaimed.

"Of course not. I took it." the shadowy man said, holding up a bottle full of a multicolored liquid. David's eyes widened as he was over come with rage. Without thinking, he dashed at the man. The dark figure quickly sidestepped and spun his leg underneath David's. He fell forward and almost tumbled off the small wool platform. Luckily, the dark man grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back. He then proceeded to elbow him in the jugular, grab his face and through him backwards. David hit the ground and sprawled out, his vision slowly fading.

"If you want this back," the dark man said brandishing the colorful bottle, "You'll have to defeat the Rising Evil… Soon you'll know…"

David finally blacked out, the darkness and sleep overwhelming him.


	13. Chapter 13- David: A Village in Ruin

Chapter 13- David: A Village in Ruin

David woke up the next morning, his head fuzzy. He quickly recalled the events of the previous night. The dark man, the "Rising Evil" and…his memories. He had to get those memories back. He needed to know why he had arrived on that river so beaten and bruised. He wanted to know about his previous life. After contemplating ways to retrieve his memories, he decided to go get cleaned up. After a quick trip to the showers and a change of clothes, he went back to his room to gather his things and headed to the kitchen. In the foyer and his old room, a few villagers were patching up the walls and door ways. Endrax was sitting at the table stroking slender who was meowing softly. Gabriel was standing at the furnace, tending to something in a pan with a wooden spoon.

"Good morning." Endrax said excitedly, looking up.

"Morning. Where's everyone else?"

"Oh, Phillip ran of to the blacksmith to get some more weapons. I think that lazy Josie's still asleep."

"Hey, lay off Josie. I pretty sure she doesn't like you insulting her like that." Gabriel scoffed at his remark and continued tending to the food. "So, what's that you're making?" David asked. "I'm cooking up some cactus fruit to make jelly. Endrax gave me quite a few." David looked over at Endrax skeptically.

"I had some left over from the cactus shack." he replied. David shrugged, walked over to the fridge and poured himself a glass of milk. As he stood there drinking, Josie stumbled groggily into the kitchen.

"Morning everyone." she said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She was leaning against the door frame with one arm, her blond hair down around her shoulders instead of up in her usual ponytail. She wore a white tank-top and blue shorts. She stood up, walked over to the table and sat down beside Endrax. David placed his glass down and poured two more for Josie and Endrax.

"Oh, David we've got to go to the doctor to look for a way to fix your amnesia." she said after a few minutes. David nodded solemnly.

"That's not gonna help." he said.

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"Trust me, it won't. I'll tell you guys after Phillip gets back." Eventually, Gabriel put out some toast, bacon strips and cactus jelly, then retired upstairs. The group ate their breakfast in relative silence. When everyone was almost done, Endrax spoke up.

"Josie, could you show us around village? Gabriel isn't much of a tour guide."

"Yea. She kind of just ran around the village looking for Phillip. We were trying to find her, and when we did, she just zoomed on ahead."

"Hmm, alright. Getting out here for a while would be a good idea." The group threw away their trash and left the house, by-passing the villagers working on the stone walls. They walked around the village, Josie explaining all the different jobs and how they were represented by clothing. Many of the buildings were homes, with a small garden in the back. Among the major buildings were the farm, the butchers, the blacksmith and the church. After a while of wandering around the farm, butchers and greeting villagers, they decided to stop by the forge and see what Phillip was doing. When they arrived, Phillip was wearing an iron mask and a thick leather apron, using a hammer to beat an iron sword into shape on an anvil.

"Wow! What is this?" Endrax asked, motioning to the small pile if iron tools.

Phillip took the red-hot iron out of the fire and put it into the water, gas filled bubbles quickly rising to the surface. He tossed the sword onto the pile and flipped up the face mask.

"A few miners from a main city came by here and said they had a surplus of iron, so they gave it to the village. Liana said I could use it as long as I made it myself. So, I made some stuff for all of us." He sheathed a sword to his belt, then handed one to David, Josie and Endrax. Then he handed the boys each an iron pick, Josie a quiver-full and a half of arrows, and an iron axe to Endrax. The group examined their new items.

"These are great! I bet we'll make great use of these, I'm sure of it." Josie said, placing her extra arrows in her backpack. "Alright, last place to visit is the church." Josie said. She and Phillip led the way down the gravel path. Eventually, the road split off from the village entirely, going further into the dunes surrounding the village. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at large cobble structure with a pine planked roof and a sort of tower near the back end. The sides of the building were adorned with colored windows and a large statue of a bald man with a few ragged clothes and a mustache stood in the courtyard.

As they walked through the gates, David stared up at the sand-stone statue.

"Who's this?" Josie turned and stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you serious? This is Notch! The creator of the universe! Have you seriously never heard of him?!" David shrugged. Josie took a deep breath and continued down the path. "Well, we'll be able to talk about it more in the church." The group walked through the doors of the church into a large room with red carpeting, pine wood benches with red carpeting and a podium on a small stage. On the stage was another villager, dressed in a plain brown robe, like most of the others. He was bald and had a large nose, a feature none of the other villagers seemed to have. He was sweeping dirt off of the wooden stage into a dust pan when he heard the door close. When stood and turned around, a smile came across his aged face.

"Ahh, hello Josie, Phillip. What brings you here this fine day?"

"Hello reverend Allan. We were looking for a quiet place to discuss some plans." Josie said.

"I see, I see. Who are your friends?" he asked motioning to Endrax and David.

"David and Endrax have been travelling with us because David lost his memory." Josie responded. "Oh, and you still need to tell me why the doctor wouldn't h-!" David clamped a hand over her mouth before she could finish her sentence.

"Thank you for letting us visit your church sir." he said quickly ushering Josie up the stairs next to the entry door.

Once they had made it up the church tower to the library, he let go of Josie.

"Dude, what the hell!?" she sputtered.

"Quiet! I don't think we should be telling people I have amnesia anymore."

"Why not? What's the problem?" Phillip asked. The group eyed him suspiciously. David walked over and sat on a window seat.

"Last night…I had a sort of…dream." David began to explain the dream about the man and the "rising evil". The group listened intently. When David had finished, he looked back for their reactions.

"Endrax, he said that the evil would come from your dimension. Where are you from?" David asked. Endrax shuffled in his chair and looked at his feet.

"I am sorry my friends…I cannot say."

"Why not?" Josie asked.

"I am forbidden…I was exiled and forbidden to talk about my home."

"C'mon dude. There's some sort of Evil threatening to destroy the world! If you know something, you've gotta tell us!"

"I…I don't know anything of an Evil. I'm sorry." David sat there for a minute, thinking about the man in his dream.

"It's o.k. Endrax. We'll figure something out. Everything will be fine. In the meantime, what should we do?"

"Well, we should discuss where we're going next." Josie walked over to a shelf, pulled out a map, and spread it out over a table. The group crowded around to get a clear view piece of paper. Josie traced her fingers over certain areas of the map. "O.K., we're here she said, pointing to a small cluster of brown dots. She moved over a small patch of forest, and a large mountain range before coming to a circle of grey. We'll need to get to CorillaCity. That's the next main civilization."

"How long will it take to get there?" Endrax asked.

"Dunno. We've never been there before." Phillip replied.

"It should be about three days or so." Josie said. "If we leave early tomorrow morning."

"Do you guys know anything about it?" David asked.

"Well, they're supposed to be really advanced. They have kinds of technology that hasn't been released to the rest of the world yet. It's supposed to be an amazing to place."

"Nah. They're just a bunch of pussies that don't know how to fight. They build machines and stuff so that they don't have to." Josie flicked Phillip in the head.

"Shut up. I've told you, they did send people to help, they just didn't get there in time." she said sadly.

"Is…is this about your home?" David asked. Josie and Phillip glanced at each other and shook their heads simultaneously. David sat up and looked at them. "C'mon guys." he said walking to the door. "Like I told Endrax, everything will be fine. We're a group. We're like a family now. We watch out for each other. C'mon, let's get the rest of our stuff and get ready to leave tomorrow." The group got up and started out of the door. They walked back down the hill, into the village and into the mansion. As usual Gabriel tackled Phillip and he struggled to get away. The group laughed and walked into their rooms.

David opened up his chest and took out a few of the items he had placed in it: three pieces of leather, some wood planks, his three stone picks, some torches and the manual. As he was placing the book into his pack, an earth shattering explosion was heard along with the screams from outside. He swung his pack over his shoulder and dashed outside, unsheathing his sword as he ran. When he arrived outside, Phillip, Endrax, and Josie where already there, weapons in hand.

There were multiple plumes of smoke rising from around the village. People's screams were heard along with the faint sound of fire.

"What's going on?" David asked.

"I'm not sure. There were some explosions." Josie said. They looked at each other, their faces suddenly solemn. "Do you think it could have been more of those creatures?"

"Only one way to find out. C'mon guys lets go!" David shouted. He ran off in the direction of the smoke, with the rest of the group following close behind him. The damaged area wasn't very far off. They hadn't passed more than two houses when they saw fire eating away at the surrounding buildings. "All right guys, spread out. Take any villagers you find to safety. Kill any monsters that may have been attracted by the noise." They all nodded in agreement, then dashed off in different directions.

David ran straight ahead. He looked around and right away saw that there were a few burning buildings with caved in parts of the roof. He reached into his pack, pulled out his crafting table and fashioned a simple wooden axe. He dashed towards a building with a caved in roof and swung his axe. He smashed the fallen, burning roof into pieces and passed through into the charred house. Glancing around, there was no one. Another section of the roof fell into the center and a fresh plume of smoke rose into the sky. David ran out of the house coughing and panting. Looking around, he saw the fire was spreading quickly. Iron golems and villagers were dumping water on the flames, but the fire was so intense it hardly helped.

Then suddenly he heard it. That same sound as before.

"Hiiisssssssssssss…"

An ear-rattling explosion filled the sky as David was launched forward into the walls of a burning house, along with splatters of blue liquid, black bone splinters and green skin. David hit the wall and heard a sickening crack. He slowly rose and examined his limbs and back. He then turned to look at the wall and realized that he had cracked a part of it.

"Help! Someone, help me!" a voice cried from the other side of the wall. David steadied himself and raised his axe. He swung and it cleaved through the wood easily, but before he could break through, the axe shattered into pieces. He tossed the splinters to the ground and he began punching through the burning wood pieces. He finally broke through the wall and ran into the room. The room had been charred black, with embers, smoke and fire all dancing around the room. David coughed and ducked low to the ground. His eyes watered, his vision obscured by tears. He looked around the room searching for the voice, until he heard the sound again. He unsheathed a sword quickly and swung behind him. Before it could explode, he cleaved the green creature through the neck. Its head lolled back, hanging from a thin strand of green skin before it fell on the floor with a loud thud. The body fell forward, spilling blue liquid onto the floor. David coughed more, his head now clouding, his limbs becoming weak. He looked around the small room once more, before he saw a hand from behind a collapsed table. He stumbled over and threw the scorched pieces across the way. A little girl lay on the floor, her body covered in soot and burns. David lifted her in his arms and stumbled out of the dark house. As he walked out of the building, he looked around. Most of the injured villagers were sitting on the ground a good distance away, being tended to by the healthy. Some groups of people and a few golems were using cauldrons and buckets to douse the flames. There was still a lot of smoke rising from the houses, but the majority of the fires were out, and it seemed everyone was fine.

David walked over to the cots and lay the little girl down. As he turned to leave he heard crying and saw the girls parents dash over to her. He smiled faintly and turned to leave. David walked off to the town square and plopped down onto a bench, looking up into the twilit sky.

"Hey, did you get everyone out?" Josie asked. David turned to see her crouching on a rooftop, over looking the square. He nodded tiredly. She jumped to the ground and sat down beside him. "You've done it again." she said.

"Done wha?-ow!" he exclaimed as she grasped his arm, carefully looking over the burns and bruises. She sighed, took off her pack and began rummaging through it. She pulled out a couple bandages and some Curing Potion. She dabbed the potion on the bandages and held them out with both hands. David glared at her.

"C'mon, you've gotta put your arm in here so I can wrap it." David continued looking at her before finally closing his eyes and placing his arm on the bandages. She quickly wrapped the bandages around his arm with swift movements. He closed his eyes and grimaced as the potion stung at his wounds. Josie tied the bandage around his hands and up to his shoulder. She did the same to his other arm and placed a few on his face. David shifted and relaxed on the bench, the tingly sensation of the potion now flowing through his blood-stream.

Josie sat up, closing her pack and shouldering it.

"I'm going to go look for the others." she said. "You stay here, so I know where to find you." David nodded in response as she walked off, back towards the now smoky destroyed village. David stared up at the twilit sky. There was still smoke in the air, but it was quickly fading. Order had seemed to return to the village, the citizen's returning to their homes, helping the injured along with them. David sat there a little longer, trying to fight sleep while he waited for his friends. Soon, they returned, Endrax holding what looked like a pile of bed linens. When they reached Dan, he grabbed one and examined it.

"Sleeping bags?"

"We'll still be traveling for a while and this will be easier to set up than a bed." Josie replied. David shoved it into his pack.

"Well, at least we have one last night of sleep in a bed." The group chuckled and began trudging off towards the mayors mansion. Once there, they cleaned up, said their good nights and went to bed. David only lay awake for a minute, before finally drifting off to sleep.

Well guys this the last chapter. For a while at least. The story isn't anywhere NEAR over. Due to school, namely math and business, I don't have time for a story this "in depth". Also, I often get "hooked" on certain games at certain times. This boost my creativity when it comes to stories or art for this game. Right now I'm not hooked on Minecraft and it's hard to write for right now anyway. I'm gonna be writing a sort of pikmin story soon. While I do have an "in depth" pikmin story, I won't be writing it for a while. Until then, there's this other story. Even though it's not "in depth" it should still be highly entertaining. Don't worry, _Minecraft _will be back soon enough. Until then, seeya!

-Dinomatrix21


	14. Chapter 14- Josie: Forest Valley Hills

Chapter 14- Josie: Forest Valley Hills

The morning passed relatively fast. The group woke up, had breakfast, said goodbye to the mayor and the villagers and headed off east to the hills surrounding Corilla City. Before they knew it, the village was a speck on the horizon. The group began hiking up the sandy slopes, specks of dry grass and thin barren trees becoming more apparent. Soon the hills sloped up nearly vertically, with very slight ledges and footholds for the group to climb up.

David boosted Josie up higher ledges and then used his stone pick to haul himself up. Phillip, being smaller, found it easier to climb the grassy ledges, easily scaling two block ledges and then jumping across small gaps to find a better area to continue climbing, Slender right behind him. Endrax simply teleported up the mountain, never getting to far ahead of his friends and teleporting back if they needed helping getting over a gap or up a ledge. At around midday, they reached the top of the hills. They looked out over the ridge they stood on. Grassy hills spread out into the horizon, forming lush valleys full of waterfalls and animal life. There were a few small holes in the sides of some of the mountains, where the cries of monsters echoed. Endrax looked out far over the Extreme Hills to the horizon.

"There is a tower in the distance." he said. The group stared out over the biome, scanning the horizon for the tower.

"Well, that doesn't seem too far. If start moving now, we should get their in about, three days I'd say. Let's go." Josie said as she started down the hill. David, Phillip and Endrax followed her jumping from ledge to ledge down the valley side.

The base of the valley was even more beautiful than when seen from the top. The grasses grew tall with a thick Pakistan Green coloring. Oak and birch trees grew tall next to the clear blue river and waterfalls crashed from high in the valleys shadowy caves. A multitude of rabbits and deer sat in the shade of the trees, but as the group came down from the ridge they jumped up and bolted into the bushes. The group started walking down the trail, looking around at the valley as they continued towards their destination.

"This place is amazing. I bet there are tons of resources in those caves." David said.

"Yea, probably a bunch of iron and coal, maybe some gold." Phillip replied.

"Would there be any diamond?"

"Probably not," Josie said. "That stuff is found miles below the surface, usually in lava pits that are even deeper than ravines."

"Well, that sucks… we're probably gonna need some armor soon if we don't want to use too many medical supplies." David replied.

"Yea I guess you're right. But I, uh…don't remember how to craft armor. Heck, I don't even know what the most basic armor materials are." Josie said shyly. David paused for a moment in thought, then took off his backpack and rummaged around. After a few minutes he pulled out the Manual. He flipped through the book quickly until he got to the section labeled 'combat'.

"It looks like basic armor is made from leather, which you get from cow and horse hides. You can also get wolf pelts, crocodile skins, shark teeth and elephant hides. Weakest to strongest in that order. All of the armors are slightly different, but are similar in weight. The next sets are made from iron gold and diamond. I've got three pieces of leather, so if we get a bit more I could make a couple of pieces of armor."

"Hey, I've still got some leftover iron from the minecart incident." Josie added.

"Sweet, I'll grab the crafting bench and…HEY!" David turned around and saw a goat with its face buried in his pack, munching away at his items. "Get out of here!" he yelled as he kicked the goat in its side. The creature bleated and then dashed off into the underbrush. David bent down to examine his pack, sifting through the items vigorously.

"What did it eat?" Endrax asked.

"Nothing much, thankfully. Looks like he just got some wood planks and some old broken items." David replied shouldering his pack again and placing down the crafting table. Josie spread the iron ingots over the table and looked over the Manual.

"Alright, 13 ingots…so… I can make a helmet and a chest plate. Who should get it?" The group looked around at each other before Endrax spoke up.

"I already have my Mining Helmet, so it should probably be you guys." he said stepping back a little ways and sitting on a piece of stone jutting out from the valley wall.

"Hmm. Well, Phillip and you are well equipped with close-range melee weapons. And since Phillip is shorter and more likely to be hit in the head, he should get the helmet." Josie said. She quickly began melding the iron into a dome shape and once she finished, she placed the object on Phillips head.

"You said we needed some animal hides, right?" Phillip asked, adjusting the helmet. "I'll go kill some cows or something. Don't worry I won't go far." he said as he took out his sword and began slicing through the tall grass.

"I'll go with him." Endrax said as he disappeared from the stone he had been sitting on. Josie and David stood at the bench in silence for a few moments before she continued melding the iron into a torso shape.

"Hey, are you sure I should have the armor?" David asked. "I mean, even though I do close range combat, you still have to take on skeletons. What if you get shot?" At these words, Josie's face turned a light shade of pink. Did David really care about what happened to her? Of course he did, they were friends.

"Don't be silly. I've spent years dealing with skeletons. I know how to avoid arrows. Besides, you're accident prone. You need this." she said handing him the chestplate.

"But…"

"Please keep it? For me?" At this, David went rigid for a split moment before taking the iron armor and placing it in his pack.

"Fine, you win. I'll take the armor." he said.

"Good. Trust me, you'll be needing it the most." Josie giggled, as she broke the crafting table and handed it back to him. As she handed the small cube back to him their hands touched for a brief second. Their eyes locked and they both blushed furiously, before quickly turning away from each other, embarrassed. Just as Josie was about to say something, Phillip and Endrax burst through the underbrush.

"Guys!" Phillip shouted. "I think you should see this." The group bolted through down the river startling animals from their hiding places in the tall grass. Josie had no idea what was going on, but from what was going on, it sounded as though Phillip was very nervous about what he had seen. Endrax's face was also distraught, like what he had seen was eternally scarring.

Phillip and Endrax stopped at a small stream trickling out of a tiny hole in the dirt base of the ridge. Next to it was a thorny bush that had had several of its branches broken off. On the ground of the surrounding area and smeared on the ridge wall next to the stream was a trail of a drying burgundy substance. On the few branches of the bush that hadn't been torn off were shreds of a brown cloth that were splattered with the burgundy coloring. Josie took a shred of the cloth and looked it over in her hands for a second before muttering.

"It's blood. Human blood."

"What happened?" Phillip asked.

"I'm not sure. It seems like someone was attacked by something, though I'm not sure who or what. It looks like they only made it to the wall right here before they were taken away."

The group sat in silence for a moment before David moved over to the base of the ridge. He began to tear through the dirt around the stream, tossing it to the side as the rest of the group simply looked at him, confused. Suddenly the stream exploded out of the wall, pushing David back into the river and splashing the rest of the group. David stood up as the stream continued rushing into the river, pushing the rest of the loose dirt into the river and revealing a dank, underground cavern.

"I knew there was something odd about the blood stains. It didn't make sense for them to just stop. C'mon look, the blood stains continue in the cave." David reached into his pack and pulled out some torches handing one to each group member. He struck his against the damp cave walls a few times until it ignited, then lit the others torches. He stepped into the cave, Endrax and Phillip following behind. Josie stood for a moment, watching the boys head into the cave. Slender mewed at her feet and she smiled, bending down to pet him.

"Hey sis, you coming?" Phillip yelled.

"Be right there!" she shouted back. She picked up Slender and placed him into her pack where he purred contently. She then grabbed her torch from out of the ground and ran into the cave after the rest of the group.


End file.
